As the use of smart objects continues to grow, the various ways in which users may access and interact with smart objects also continues to grow. With the advent of cloud computing, many services that support access to and control of smart objects have been moved to the cloud, such that access to and control of smart objects is no longer constrained to physical places as it was in the past. This is especially true given the advances in the capabilities of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, which may be used to access services that support access to and control of smart objects. For example, a user may use his or her smartphone to access a service, running in the cloud, that supports access to and control of a home security system, even when the user is not at home. As a result, the implicit protection of a local network that limits access to the environment in which the smart object is located (e.g., a home network) is no longer valid, as users may now access the smart object from virtually anywhere. Additionally, this situation is exacerbated by the rollout of simpler smart objects, removal of tangible interaction properties, and so forth. Indeed, rather than depending on physical controls, many smart objects are nowadays being accessed and used via applications running on mobile devices. While this ubiquitous access to smart objects is highly convenient, it also is making smart objects, and their associated data, more vulnerable. Accordingly, there is a need for improved security associated with access to and control of smart objects and network-hosted services which may be used to control smart objects.